What if Web Advertising Was Banned?

Ad Age's A Sign of Things to Come? mentioned that the city of São Paulo banned outdoor advertising, and the movement is picking up steam elsewhere.

São Paulo made history by banning ads on billboards, neon signs and electronic panels, and now Rio de Janeiro is considering a similar measure.

Advertising on the web is not yet heavily regulated, but what happens to the value of domain names or other web assets if certain forms of internet advertising become illegal? I would expect it would increase the value of names, clean traffic streams, and things that operate similarly to public relations while squeezing the margins on less organic forms of marketing and advertising.

Published: October 1, 2007 by Aaron Wall in marketing

Comments

Anita
October 1, 2007 - 1:47pm

In the world of marketing (and any other field that evolves) as it becomes more and more saturated, regulations come in place. But I look forward to these 'restrictions' as they make us push the boundaries and explore different options, which in turn makes us discover better ways of marketing.

In the gaming industry, for e.g. when the US banned online advertising for the industry, all it did is made the big players shift focus and re-group to market in the European market and Asia - which is a very lucrative/large market.

So, as one method of advertising 'dies' we as marketers move on and create something better.

I think the bottom line is, that no matter what marketing will always be needed - in whatever form - online happens to be the best right now, and I think it has a long way to go still before it moves to another medium...

apieve
October 1, 2007 - 3:12pm

I live in Rio de Janeiro and was in São Paulo last week, for a Google's SEM meeting. It seems that all that Dollars that was used to advertise on the streets are just moving into the Web.

Good for us! The city looks cleaner and we jus got some exrta clientes or budgets! I'm hoping Rio do the same.

Andrew Johnson
October 1, 2007 - 6:52pm

Lets say, hypothetically, all online advertising was banned. Assuming that Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft's lobbyists completely failed, now internet publishers are left with one option: paid subscriptions. As much as consumers claim they hate advertising, they despise paying for something -- especially when it used to be free.

Roslan
October 5, 2007 - 10:27am

Keep on doing Great work
http://www.auction-star.com

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